I read a genuinely enjoyable book for the first time in a while and it was glorious
September ends nicely with But Won’t I Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao, whom I later found out has translated a lot of Indonesian writers’ works, including those of Intan Paramaditha and Norman Erikson Pasaribu. I thoroughly did not expect to be carried through such a rollercoaster of emotions, as the cover portrays it as a slightly dark and matter-of-fact story.
It goes like this: in a dystopian future where resources are scarce, a woman confronts motherhood, identity, memory, and the unsettling possibilities of being biologically “reborn.”
It is not afraid of its dystopian nature in its world-building, and I especially appreciate the writer’s ability to explain the context without sounding like a lecturer or documentarian. I like the way she weaves the realities of the future-present with the current present, almost like a somber retelling with an intellectual backbone. Things actually made sense. Energy scarcity, how internet and cellphone networks become luxuries, how the very real challenge of postpartum depression gets juxtaposed with the surgically precise biological limitations of “rebirth.”
The sentences are efficient, and the dialogues are piercingly relevant. “Sometimes you just want to forget.” I read that and put a pink sticky note on the page that says, “Sublime!”
The climax is nothing short of unexpected for me. I knew that, with the almost monotonous and slightly deadpan style of delivery (yet still being deeply exposed and vulnerable), the climax was going to be delivered nonchalantly. And nonchalant it was. I wrote, “ASMR!” after reading two sentences describing the entire reason the suspense had been built.
I didn’t mind the perspective changes or the back-and-forth timeline, though I can imagine that, for some people, it can be quite confusing, since the sentences are quite dense in some parts. I do have to flip back and forth, though it’s not unwelcomed.
All in all, like any good book makes you feel in the post-reading experience: you crawl, hug your knees, stare at the ceiling, and wonder what to do with your life now that the book is finished.
Masterful craft and an inspiration to a novice writer like me.